Once Upon A Rejection

Talen Bancroft’s POV

The chains were wrapped so tightly around my wrists that they were digging into my flesh. It was uncomfortable but we had to make it look realistic or Dustin’s forces were going to get suspicious. We couldn’t risk that happening, this whole plan rested on us being able to keep them busy for at least a few minutes.

Grayson, Leyton and all of the other lycans under my command had left to get into position nearly an hour ago. I was now alone with ten members of one of the unofficial packs. They called themself the Baker pack and according to their alpha they had over a hundred members. That meant that they were one of the larger unofficial packs even though they were still a great deal smaller than most normal packs.

“They should be in position now, maybe we should get moving.” I suggested, cutting their alpha off abruptly.

He seemed like a nice guy but if I had to listen to one more story about how evil his older brother was then I was going to pull these chains off and stab myself in the ears. My eardrums would grow back pretty quickly but at least I would get a few minutes peace.

“I’m not sure, we should probably give them a few more minutes.” The alpha replied.

“Oh come on man, he clearly doesn’t want to hear you going on about your brother anymore.” His beta told him while rolling his eyes. The alpha mumbled something that I couldn’t quite hear under his breath. It was clear that the two of them had a lot of fun working together, I hoped that tonight wouldn’t be their last.

They put me into the back set of one of their cars and drove me straight up to the main entrance of the palace. I hadn’t seen the lycan palace for many years. The building itself seemed to be in good shape, maybe even better than the last time I had seen it, but the walls surrounding it were covered in ivy and moss. The road towards the palace was cracked and broken in many places but more worryingly, the grounds were completely overgrown. If they wanted to take us by surprise they could easily sneak up on us using that undergrowth as cover.

We stopped the car just before the place where the main gates to the palace gardens should have been. Nobody had taken the time to reattach them and they were just laying on the ground beside the opening. The intricate iron gates would have once been beautiful but now they were just a rusted mess.

The pack members got out of the car and started looking around while the alpha pulled me out of the back seat roughly. As I stepped out I staggered, trying to keep myself from falling flat on my face with my wrists bound together in front of me.

“Come on lycan, are you really going to let a weak wolf like me push you to the floor?”

He laughed harshly at me. After a few steps I managed to recover my footing. I walked right up to where the gates should have been with the alpha holding onto my right arm and his beta holding onto my left. They gripped me tightly, as though they meant to rip my arms off but I knew the truth. They were terrified. They were holding me tightly so that nobody could see how badly they were shaking. They had every reason to be scared, we were walking straight into the lion’s den.

We stood by the non-existent gates, waiting for something to happen. After a few minutes each one of us was starting to doubt that they would come to us, or maybe that they were even here at all. The pack’s beta started shifting his weight from foot to foot while glancing around in all directions.

“Are you absolutely sure this is the right place?” The alpha asked me. He tried to keep his tone aggressive to match the persona he had taken on but there was an edge of hesitation underneath his aggression.

“I am sure.” I replied, looking directly ahead. A small group of lycans had just exited the palace and were currently making their way down the crumbling path towards us. I opened a mindlink with Grayson to let him know what was happening while I observed the small group moving towards us.

Dustin had only sent three lycans as our welcome party. I wasn’t sure if that was because he didn’t have many supporters left or if it was pure arrogance on his part. I suspected that it would be the second option though, knowing the way my kind saw werewolves.

The three of them walked slowly as they approached us which gave me time to tease Grayson over mindlink while I was waiting. He had told me to keep the connection between us open so that I could give him constant updates but I think he was starting to regret that suggestion.

‘Can you take this seriously for one moment.’ He grumbled at me.

‘I don’t know what you are talking about. This is very serious, I need to know what underwear you are wearing.’ I replied.

Grayson’s frustrated sigh almost made me laugh, just as the lycans crossed the last few metres towards us. I didn’t recognise any of them but from the smirk they threw in my direction, it looked as though they knew who I was.

“It’s very kind of you to bring us a present but please tell me. How did you know about this location?” The lycan at the front of the group asked. There were a few seconds of silence, nobody had an answer to that. We should have predicted that question and yet we had all been too preoccupied by getting here to think about what we would say. It was a rookie mistake, I was better than this.

“I told them where you would be.” I growled, letting my frustration at myself slip through into my voice.

“How did you know we would be here? Who told you?” The same lycan growled. He was looking at me with even more disdain than he did the werewolves. A lycan who managed to get caught by werewolves was no longer deemed fit to be called a lycan by most of my kind.

“Nobody needed to tell me where you would be. It is so obvious that it is a joke.” I replied.

Two of the lycans nodded their heads, as though the thought had occurred to them as well. It was a stupid idea to try hiding in an abandoned palace, there were far too many ways into the building. It was a place chosen out of ego rather than good strategy, you didn’t need to be an expert in psychology or strategy to see that.

We stood by the non-existent gates, waiting for something to happen. After a few minutes each one of us was starting to doubt that they would come to us, or maybe that they were even here at all. The pack’s beta started shifting his weight from foot to foot while glancing around in all directions.

“Fine, but why would you give yourself up willingly?” One of them asked.

“To save my mate.”

It wasn’t technically a lie. The whole reason I had agreed to this plan was because I thought it was the best way to keep Molly safe. I realised that I was in a dangerous position right now and I could die, but my death would be worth it if it meant keeping Molly safe.

They observed me in silence for a few seconds, they kept their faces blank as they had a private discussion together over mindlink. As the seconds ticked by more and more concern filled the werewolves behind me, I could almost taste their fear in the air. Even I was starting to think that they had seen straight through my flimsy explanations.

“How exactly is giving yourself to us going to save your mate? After we kill you, we will find her and kill her as well.” One of the lycans replied after a few minutes. This conversation was not going the way I wanted it to. Jax on the other hand wasn’t so worried. He was pacing in my mind, eager to get this part over with so he could taste their b***d.

“She is no threat to Dustin. If you let her live then I am sure she will allow him to become king without challenging him.” I replied.

The lycan who had been doing most of the speaking so far shook his head and took a step towards me. It looked as though he was stronger or outranked the other two, that was good to know. I was about to address him directly when one of the others interrupted by taking hold of his shoulder.

“I think we should just kill the werewolves and take this one to Dustin, he can decide what to do with him.” The other lycan said, pointing his finger towards me. The lead lycan spun around to face him, his hands balled into fists at his sides. A small involuntary growl left his lips as he stared at him with angry dominance.

‘s**t, oh s**t. Attack now’ Grayson told me over mindlink before cutting me off.

I untucked the end of the chain and started to unwind it. As I worked on the chain I lunged at the two lycans in front of me, knocking them both to the floor while they were still distracted by each other. My claws were already extended and I plunged them into the necks of both lycans almost simultaneously.

The werewolves behind me rushed forward to take down the remaining lycan before he could open up a mindlink to warn those inside. So much for trying to be quiet, oh well I preferred it this way anyway.

“What are you waiting for?” I growled at the werewolves around me, as I pulled myself back to my feet and started to make my way towards the palace.